Lots of things get posted on the internet that aren't safe.

Yeah this is an oldie but goodie. The "who cares what the government, the guidelines, or anyone except Jackie Clay says" faction swears by it.

NCHFP's position is addressed in great detail in the FAQS:

Should I use directions for canning butter at home that I see on the Internet?

Indeed, there are some directions for 'canning' butter in circulation on the Internet. Most of what we have seen are not really canning, as they do not have Boiling Water or Pressure Canning processes applied to the filled jar. Jars are preheated, the butter is melted down and poured into the jars, and the lids are put on the jars. Some directions say to put the jars in the refrigerator as they re-harden, but to keep shaking them at regular intervals to keep the separating butter better mixed as it hardens. This is merely storing butter in canning jars, not ‘canning’. True home canning is when the food is heated enough to destroy or sufficiently acid enough to prevent growth of all spores of Clostridium botulinum (that causes botulism) and other pathogens during room temperature storage on the shelf.

Additionally, when you consider the economics of the process (energy costs involved with heating, cost of jars and lids, etc.), even if the butter is bought on sale, it may not be economically viable to prepare butter to store for years in this manner. Good quality butter is readily available at all times, if butter is needed for fresh use. If the concern is about emergency food supplies, there are dry forms of butter that can be purchased and stored, oils that can be used in an emergency, or commercially canned butter in tins (although we have only seen this for sale from other countries). Melted and re-hardened butter may not function the same as original butter in many types of baking anyway.

There are a few issues with the common directions circulating on the Internet at this time (Spring 2006):

Physical safety and food quality: In the provided directions, the jars are preheated in an oven (dry-heat), which is not recommended for canning jars. Manufacturers of canning jars do not recommend baking or oven canning in the jars. It is very risky with regard to causing jar breakage. There is no guarantee that the jars heated in this dry manner are sufficiently heated to sterilize them, as we do not have data on sterilizing jar surfaces by this dry-heating method.
The butter is not really being 'canned'; it is simply being melted and put in canning jars, and covered with lids. Due to some heat present from the hot melted butters and preheated jars, some degree of vacuum is pulled on the lids to develop a seal. It rarely is as strong a vacuum as you obtain in jars sealed through heat processing. The practice in these 'canned' butter directions is referred to as 'open-kettle' canning in our terminology, which is really no canning at all, since the jar (with product in it) is not being heat processed before storage.
Although mostly fat, butter is a low-acid food. Meat, vegetables, butter, cream, etc. are low-acid products that will support the outgrowth of C. botulinum and toxin formation in a sealed jar at room temperature. Low-acid products have to be pressure-canned by tested processes to be kept in a sealed jar at room temperature. It is not clear what the botulism risk is from such a high-fat product, but to store a low-acid moist food in a sealed jar at room temperature requires processing to destroy spores. A normal salted butter has about 16-17% water, some salt, protein, vitamins and minerals. Some butter-like spreads have varying amounts of water in them. We have no kind of database in the home canning/food processing arena to know what the microbiological concerns would be in a butter stored at room temperature in a sealed jar. In the absence of that, given that it is low-acid and that fats can protect spores from heat if they are in the product during a canning process, we cannot recommend storing butter produced by these methods under vacuum sealed conditions at room temperature.
Some other directions do call for 'canning' the filled jars of butter in a dry oven. This also is not 'canning'. There is not sufficient, research-based documentation to support that 'canning' any food in a dry oven as described on this web page or any page that proposes oven canning is even sufficient heating to destroy bacteria of concern, let alone enough to produce a proper seal with today's home canning lids.

In conclusion, with no testing having been conducted to validate these methods, we would NOT recommend or endorse them as a safe home-canning process, let alone for storing butter at room temperature for an extended period. We do know that the methods given for preheating empty jars, or even filled jars, in a dry oven are not recommended by the jar manufacturers or by us for any food. Aside from the physical safety and quality issues, and the fact that it is not canning at all, if there happened to be spores of certain bacteria in there, these procedures will not destroy those spores for safe room temperature storage.

Dave

deleted duplicate post

This post was edited by digdirt on Sat, Sep 7, 13 at 16:42

I've had several times over my life that I ran out of butter and wished I could have had some 'canned' up. I live out of the average area, and have been snowed in for up to 2 weeks suddenly. Without a freezer (no electric) it's hard to keep some items for long.

You can store dried butter powder. I have some, but not tried it yet.

Canned butter from Denmark is available online. Amazon sells canned butter from New Zealand. Both those countries have very stringent dairy and processing standards and would be good sources for those who wish to purchase some.

Carol

There's a dicussion going on now in the Canning Corner on JaP about canning milk - I gave up.

As a sort-of homesteader, I have often found websites that seem like a good place to hang out and share into, until it turns to canning information. As soon as I see a discussion that promotes unsafe practices or recipes, and that labels people who don't agree with them as the Safety Police, I'm gone. I no longer trust anything or any recipe that comes up, so no point in making myself crazy over it. I leave and never go back.

I now don't have the problem as much, since there is only 2 of us and we have figured out how people survived before electricity. We still try to stay as safe as possible with our food, growing or buying from people who grow and know what they are using chemical or otherwise, but have found several ways to 'get by' for the 2 weeks or so if need be in the winter. Cooler buried in snow works well for refrigerator, when the time comes.

"Cooler buried in snow works well for refrigerator, when the time comes."

I was going to suggest that actually. I have an unheated porch that is enclosed. In the dead of winter, it gets (and stays) below 40 degrees. It's my back up "temporary refridgerator space".